Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Valerie D Serdy

Sean Erik McAteer

Alan Aitken Ramaley

Thomas W Olsen

Suresh Tharamal

Noah Benjamin Edelstein

Andrew Grey Carlson

Noah Egorin

An envelope provides the integration of the functionality of an email application program and the functionality of a document editor so that a sender can send introductory text to the recipient of an email message constituting a document without corrupting the original document. Users of document editors can generate and edit documents for email transmission by first creating the document with the document editor and then invoking an envelope to send the document as the message body with introductory text. The envelope has its own user interface that is fully functional within the confines of the document editor's user interface to provide the user with the functionality of the email client application program. The envelope includes an introduction field for the entry of introductory text by the sender. The introduction field in the envelope is a rich edit control in plain text mode, similar to the subject field of the envelope. When the user sends the document, the document editor prepends the introductory text to the body of the message. The document editor then converts the introductory text and the body of the document to an HTML message, and the email client sends the email message to the recipient.

System and method for improved electronic mail processing with introductory text

A system and method for reviewing an electronic document. A copy of an electronic document is sent to a reviewer, the copy of the electronic document having a first property identifying the location of the electronic document in the memory and indicating that review of the copy has been requested. The reviewer uses an application program to open the copy of the electronic document. The application program detects properties and in response to the first property, automatically displays a review toolbar. The edited electronic document is then sent back to the author having at least a first property. The application program executed by the author detects the properties and in response to the first property, retrieves the original electronic document from the memory and automatically prompts the author to merge the edited electronic document into the electronic document.

Reviewing and merging electronic documents

An automated review cycle automatically merges changes in a reviewed document into an original document and by provides reviewing tools on a context-sensitive basis. The automated review cycle can operate within the environments of a document management system, a link-based document collaboration system (e.g., common server), or an attachment-based collaboration system. By generating a review cycle identification number (RCID) and by maintaining other information about the review cycle in a configuration file, an original author and a reviewer of a document can be distinguished and can be provided the appropriate prompts and tools to facilitate the document review process.

Automating a document review cycle

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Sammamish, WA, United States of America

Valerie D Serdy